We left Redding after a hearty breakfast at Lumberman Jack's Restaurant. An uneventful drive brought us to Lake Shasta. Mt. Shasta itself is a marvel, rising above the valley and still dusted with snow.
As we drove, I read from a book that Marie, our spiritual director, had loaned us, How to Discover Your Personal Vocation: The Search for Meaning in the Spiritual Exercises, by Herbert Alphonso, S. J. (Society of Jesus, the "Jesuits"). The Spiritual Exercises he references are a thirty-day prayer regimen that has as its goal "the seeking and finding of God's will in the arrangements or ordering or orientation of my life (= la disposicion de mi vida) for salvation. (p. 7)
In my understanding the idea of a personal vocation uses the Latin root vocare to mean a calling, as in "God has called you by name." Fr. Alphonso had been a spiritual director for over thirty-five years when he wrote the book and, through his experiences in his own life and with other people, he came to understand the importance of a person understanding and living in accordance with his/her personal calling, or personal vocation as he termed it.
As I digest the few but pithy points of this very small yet powerful tome, I will be looking for connections between them and my experiences this summer.
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